The Fox premiere drew 9.22 million viewers and 3.1 in the 18-49 demo in live plus same day results, rising to 4.1 in Live+3, the best result by a new drama.
When the currency is shown near the beginning, one can see the portrait of President Barrack Obama on one of the bills. (Obama's portrait would also be seen on future currency in the movie Total Recall (2012))
The Canadian premiere drew 1.4 million viewers, the largest audience for a drama in Citytv's history.
In June 2011, Terra Nova was one of eight honorees in the Most Exciting New Series category at the Critics' Choice Television Awards, voted by journalists who had seen the pilots.
The two-hour pilot was filmed over 26 days in late November to December 2010.